In this perplexity, to my astonishment my Arab hunter advanced towards the wounded lion, with his drawn sword grasped firmly in his right hand, while his left held his projected shield, and thus unsupported and alone, this determined fellow marched slowly forward until within a few yards of the lion, which, instead of rushing to attack, crept like a coward into impenetrable thorns, and was seen no more. The Arab subsequently explained that he had acted in this manner, hoping that the lion would have crouched preparatory to a spring; he would then have halted, and the delay would have given me time to load. I have before remarked upon the extreme danger of despising an adversary, and although I do not consider the lion to be so formidable or ferocious as the tiger, that is no reason for despising an animal which has always been respected from remote antiquity to the present day. It is impossible to be too careful when in pursuit of dangerous game. My friend Colonel Knox of the Scots Fusilier Guards, an experienced and fearless sportsman, very nearly lost his life in an encounter with a lioness, although under the circumstances he could hardly be blamed for want of due precaution. He had shot the animal, which was lying stretched out, as though dead. Being alone, he returned to camp to procure the necessary people, and together with these he went to the spot where he found the lioness in the same position. Naturally he considered that it was dead, but upon approaching the prostrate body he was instantly attacked, knocked down, and seized by the back; he would assuredly have been killed had he not been assisted by his followers. Although he killed the lioness, he was seriously mauled, and was laid up for a considerable period in consequence. It would be easy to produce cases where lions have caused terrible fatalities, and others where they have failed to support their reputation for nobility and valour; but as I have already observed, there is no absolute certainty or undeviating rule in the behaviour of any animal. The natives of Central Africa, who are first-rate sportsmen, have no fear of the lion when undisturbed by hunters, but they hold him in the highest respect when he becomes the object of the chase. I have known a lion which, when stopped by the nets in one of the great African hunts, knocked over five men, all of whom were seriously wounded, and, although it was impaled by spears, it succeeded in evading a crowd of its pursuers. Stories of lions are endless, and were they compiled, a most interesting work might result, but my object in producing a few anecdotes, mostly of my own personal experience, is to elucidate the character of the animals by various examples, which prove the impossibility of laying down any fixed or invariable rule.